Privacy Policy
Last updated 20 October 2026 · Applies to the Review Atlas Chrome extension, version 1.5.0.
The short version. There is no Review Atlas server. Nothing is sent to us, because there is nowhere to send it. Review text goes only to the AI provider you choose — and if you choose the model built into Chrome, or one running on your own computer, it never leaves your machine at all. On the built-in path the extension makes no network request of its own.
Who is responsible
Review Atlas is built and maintained by an individual developer, minglau0315. Questions about this policy: minglau0315@gmail.com.
What the extension reads
Only when you click Analyze Reviews, and only from the tab you are on:
- The text and star rating of the reviews shown on the page
- The place name, its overall rating and review count
- The category, address and phone number shown in the panel
It reads nothing until you ask it to. It does not run on other sites, does not read your browsing history, your other tabs, your bookmarks or your cookies.
Where that data goes
Before collecting anything, the extension asks the provider you selected for its list of models, to check that the provider is reachable and your key works. That request carries your key and no review text. It is the only request made before you see a result. With the built-in model there is no such request: Chrome is asked directly whether its on-device model is available.
To exactly one place: the AI provider you selected in settings. Nowhere else. Which provider you pick decides whether anything leaves your computer.
| Your choice | Where review text goes |
|---|---|
| The built-in model — the on-device model that ships with Chrome | Processed by Chrome on this device; no request leaves the browser. Chrome downloads the model itself, once, and that download carries no review text. |
| A local model — Ollama, LM Studio, llama.cpp, Jan, vLLM, KoboldCpp, LocalAI, text-generation-webui, or any OpenAI-compatible server you run | To that server only. If it runs on your own machine or your own network, the review text never leaves it. |
| A hosted API — OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, Groq, xAI | To that company's API, over HTTPS, so it can generate the summary. Their own privacy policy then governs what they do with it. |
If you use a hosted provider, their terms apply to the text sent: OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Groq, xAI. Choosing a local model avoids this entirely.
What is stored, and where
Everything is kept in Chrome's local extension storage on your own device. None of it is synced to us or to anyone else.
| Stored | Why | Kept for |
|---|---|---|
| Your settings | Provider, model, endpoint, review scope, language | Until you change or reset them |
| API keys | To authenticate with the provider you chose | Until you remove them |
| Summaries and collected reviews | So reopening a place is instant instead of re-scraping | 24 hours, max 50 entries |
| A random encryption salt | Used to encrypt your API keys | Until the extension is removed |
About API keys specifically
Keys are encrypted with AES-GCM-256 before being written to storage, using a key derived through PBKDF2-SHA-256 (100,000 iterations) from a per-install value and a random salt. Once saved, a key is never displayed back to you — the field shows a ✓ Saved badge instead. A key is only ever transmitted as the authorization header to the provider it belongs to.
An honest limit. This is meaningfully better than plain text, but it is not an OS keychain. Anyone with full access to your computer and to the extension's source could reconstruct the key. That is true of every browser extension that stores a credential; treat your device as the boundary.
What is never collected
- No analytics, no telemetry, no usage statistics
- No tracking, no advertising, no fingerprinting, no cookies
- No accounts, no sign-in, no email collection
- No crash or error reporting sent anywhere
- No selling or sharing of data — there is no data of yours in our hands to sell
The extension's own interface makes no third-party requests at all. Its fonts are bundled rather than loaded from a font CDN, specifically so that opening the popup contacts nobody.
Permissions, and why each exists
| Permission | Why |
|---|---|
activeTab, scripting | To read the reviews on the tab you are looking at, only after you click Analyze |
storage | Your settings and the local cache |
google.com, maps.google.com | The pages whose reviews are being summarized |
localhost, 127.0.0.1 | To reach a model running on your own machine |
declarativeNetRequestWithHostAccess | To drop the Origin header from the extension's own requests to your local AI server, which Ollama otherwise refuses. Nothing else is modified, and requests from websites are untouched |
| The five provider API hosts | Only the one you actually select is ever contacted |
| Optional: all hosts | Requested only if you point the extension at a self-hosted server on some other address. The extension cannot know that address in advance, so the option must be broad — but nothing is requested at install, and when you do save such an endpoint it asks for that single address only. |
Your control
- Remove a stored API key with the ✕ beside its field
- Clear every cached summary and review set from History → Clear all
- Reset to defaults in Advanced settings restores everything (your keys are deliberately kept, since they cannot be shown back to you)
- Uninstalling the extension deletes all of it — there is no copy anywhere else
Children
Review Atlas is not directed at children and collects no personal information from anyone.
Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, the date at the top changes with it and the change is noted in the changelog. The extension's full source is available to read, so every claim here can be checked against the code.